Desperately seeking Marc Dann

As if former Attorney General Marc Dann doesn't have enough troubles, attorneys for Ohio skill-game operators are trying to track him down to serve him with a contempt-of-court order.

As if former Attorney General Marc Dann doesn't have enough troubles, attorneys for Ohio skill-game operators are trying to track him down to serve him with a contempt-of-court order.

Dann, once chummy with the operators of games that resembled slot machines but relied partly on a player's skill, angered them last year by spearheading a campaign to declare the games illegal and have them seized by authorities.

The game operators and their lawyers contributed thousands of dollars to a fund in early 2007 that Dann then used to reward friends and his wife, according to a stinging report by the state inspector general last week.

After Dann turned on them and authorities seized hundreds of Tic Tac Fruit and similar machines, attorneys for the skill-game operators sought a contempt-of-court order against Dann and other authorities behind the seizure. The machine operators said authorities took the machines in violation of a court order in effect at the time.

While lawyers for the skill-game operators have served orders on many of the other officials accused of illegally seizing machines, they haven't caught up with Dann. The former attorney general maintains his home near Youngstown and is practicing law in Cleveland, but a process server for the skill-game attorneys hasn't tracked him down yet.